490 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



called the TIMALIID^E, or 'babbling-thrushes.' While taking a goodly number of 

 forms out of this heterogeneous assemblage, we will yet have to leave enough in it to 

 justify the epithet above, as this is manifestly not the place to attempt unravelling 

 the tangle into which modern systems have brought themselves. 



The Timaliidaa form quite an extensive group, consisting almost exclusively of 

 tropical Old World types, which, speaking in a general way, may be said to resemble 

 the true thrushes, differing chiefly in not having the anterior tarsal scutes fused, and 

 in having their wings strongly concave, so as to fit closely to the body. With the 

 exception of one pretty well defined group within the family, most of the birds which 

 we include in it are very modestly colored, rufous being a very common ground-color, 

 or with admixture with white, gray, and black. In this respect the 'babblers' show 

 considerable similarity to the Formicaroidea?, offering another proof of how erroneous 

 is the popular belief that the tropical birds must necessarily be brilliantly colored. 



Out of the nearly four hundred and fifty species composing this family there will 

 only be space to mention a few of the most prominent forms. The remarkable spine- 

 tailed Orthonyx, temminckii, from eastern Australia, is noteworthy for the fact that 

 grave doubts as to its oscinine nature were entertained until quite recently, when 

 Foi'bes, in 1882, demonstrated its mesomyodian character. This bird also deserves to 

 be mentioned on account of an anatomical feature which is unique, inasmuch as the 

 left carotid (the only one developed, as in all Passeres) " is not contained anywhere 

 in the subvertebral canal, but runs up superficially in company with the left vagus 

 nerve to near the head, where it bifurcates in the usual manner." Another strange 

 form, the true passerine nature of which has only been shown recently, is the Malayan 

 and Papuan gemts Eupetes, the type species of which, E. macrocercus, is said to have 

 a great external resemblance to Mesites. The bill is long, and the head and neck are 

 covered with very short velvety feathers, causing the neck to look disproportionately 

 thin ; over the eye a silky white streak. 



There are many other genera, some of which resemble shrikes, others which look 

 more like jays, others again which personate the thrushes or starlings. Kenopia stri- 

 ata, from the Malay Peninsula, in its coloration strongly recalls a Dendrocolaptes, 

 but the feathers of the lower back are very long and soft, a feature chai-acteristic of 

 many true timaliine birds; it is carried to an excess in Macronus ptilosus, from the 

 same country, in which, moreover, the shafts are broadened, stiffened, and white- 

 colored. First in the Pycnonotinse, bulbuls, or fruit-thrushes, are found more bril- 

 liantly colored species, among which we may mention the different species of Pycno- 

 notus, brownish gray birds, with more or less blackish head, and easily recognizable 

 by having the under tail-coverts brightly colored, either red or yellow. Another genus 

 which is now referred to this group is Irena, containing the fairy bluebirds, brilliantly 

 blue and black colored birds, as large as robins, and characteristic of the oriental re- 

 gion from central India eastward to the Philippine Islands. Another group, which 

 has often been regarded as a separate family or sub-family, has also recently been 

 united with the foregoing genera, viz., the green bulbuls (Chloropsis and allies), a 

 small group of oriental fruit-eating birds of brilliant green plumage, on the head often 

 adorned with blue, yellow, and black. The genus Criniger is especially remarkable 

 for the long and extremely thin hairs which protrude between the feathers of the head 

 and hind neck, and for the very stiff bristles at the mouth angle. 



Little is known about the habits of the timaliine birds. Of Pycnonotus hcemor- 

 rhous Captain Legge writes as follows: "The Madras bulbul affects gardens, com- 



